Free Foreclosure Listings: You Get What You Pay for
Posted on October 9, 2009
Filed Under Pre-Foreclosures Investing |
All too often, someone thinks that they can get rich in foreclosures without much effort at all. They figure the first step is to find a foreclosure through some sort of foreclosure listing website, and that will be their key to unlocking fortunes in the foreclosure market. They are too cheap to pay for some sort of premium foreclosure listing service, so they decide to go for the free trial or just use sites that list foreclosures for free. They are planning to make thousands per house, but are not willing to pay the few bucks it usually costs to find them.
There are several costs of trying to save on foreclosure listings. Letâs go through them from least costly to most costly. The first is if they think they are getting a great deal by signing up to some trial offer for a buck. A buck is worth it to find that foreclosure that will make you thousands. But you need to be very careful when signing up to free trail offers that require you to enter your credit card info. Most people forget to read the fine print. You are actually signing up for their monthly billing, but they are just giving you a free week at the start. You must cancel your account before that free week is up if you donât want to be charged the monthly membership fee automatically. Most people sign up, look at a few foreclosures, realized that it is going to be a lot more work and risk than they thought initially and forget the whole thing. They also forget to cancel their account and end up getting billed a few hundred more than they expected.
The next way that people get burnt is when they try to use some sort of foreclosure listing service that is 100% free. These listing services are often times full of mistakes, outdated information and incomplete information. Most of the free foreclosure sites that I have seen have 1 to 2% of the listings that the paid foreclosure sites have. All too often, people who are serious about foreclosures try to save a buck by using free services and end up forgetting about foreclosures and moving on. They canât even get a start on a single property because the information is so incomplete or outdated. If you are actually serious about investing in foreclosures, make sure to get yourself a decent foreclosure listing service.
Another way that hurts potential investors is trying to read the legal notices section of the local newspaper. All foreclosure auctions have to be listed for a certain amount of time (varies by state) in a local paper. The unknowing investor picks up the paper and thinks it will basically just be a classified for foreclosed homes. Wrong! All they see is legal jargon and figure you have to be some sort of professional to do foreclosures. Itâs too hard for them so they just give up right there.
One last final way that investors get burned is when they go to some sort of auction and start bidding trigger-happy on foreclosures they know nothing about. They might buy a house that needs more repairs than is worth. They might be buying a worthless junior mortgage instead of a senior mortgage. There might be property tax leans up the yin yang on the home you just bought. The property might even get bid well above fair market value by unknowing investors.
Dealing with foreclosures is risky business. It is best to study, read and learn, then take action once you are comfortable. Know the game before you get into it.
Tom Noonan
http://www.articlesbase.com/investing-articles/free-foreclosure-listings-you-get-what-you-pay-for-746111.html
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7 Responses to “Free Foreclosure Listings: You Get What You Pay for”
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Where are the REAL FREE foreclosure listings online?
Soooo many sites advertise "free" foreclosure listings and force the visitor through a bunch of hoops including providing a credit card number they won’t charge "for 7 days unless you cancel". Either its free or its not. Stop with the stupid stuff.
So where are the real free foreclosure listings??
i have found none of those sites are accurate. I just contact banks directly and be the first one in line
References :
Where I live the County Clerk’s website lists all of the properties that are going to be auctioned in the upcoming 30 days. This info is public record and is free. Not all counties do this, but if you go to the courthouse you can get it there.
References :
The best site available for foreclosure listings is RealtyTrac and they are a pay site. I think they are worth the money if you are serious about buying a foreclosed property. There is free directory for foreclosure sites ( http://www.sheriffsalemls.com/ ) maybe you can track down some free listing sites through that directory. Good luck.
References :
if you go to http://www.century21.com or go to http://www.realtor.com
References :
reotrans.com
ocwen.com
References :
The sad truth is that NO website offers any listings for free. RealtyTrac and others may have a TON of listings, but the unfortunate thing about them is that they are so out-dated that when you go for the listing, it’s already been sold or foreclosed on. And you have basically wasted your money.
The best thing to do is to check out your local county clerk’s office or check with your local title company. These listings are fresh and usually in mass quantities because they have EVERY listing for that county or town. Those website are limited to what they obtain, and by the time they are posted on their website, they are out-dated.
Like I said, either call your local title company, or go to your county clerk’s office, but check for NOD (notice of default). You want people who are in the foreclosure process, not already foreclosed on. These listings are TRULY free and if you have to pay for anything at all, it might only be the paper you print it on.
References :
Just recently went through the same difficult time finding pre-foreclosure listings.